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Great Aloha Run - RunOther


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Honolulu, Hawaii
United States
Great Aloha Run
72F / 22C
Overcast
Total Time = 59m 40s
Overall Rank = 311/18202
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 44/1037
Pre-race routine:

I came into this race about 8 pounds lighter than last year. I was carrying way too much holiday weight last year. I was hoping to run sub 7 pace, and while training in January showed good signs, sickness and lower training in February was making that a little iffy.

Slept way too much on Saturday night/Sunday morning, then couldn't sleep Sunday night. Got maybe 2 hours of sleep, but I don't think that made a difference. Left the house at 4:15, beat the traffic, short line to the shuttle, and was downtown at the office at 5:15. Stretched, used the restroom, then went back down to warm up at 6:10.
Event warmup:

Ran a little under 2 miles feeling pretty comfortable, then made my way to the start line at 6:30.
Run
  • 59m 40s
  • 8.15 miles
  • 07m 19s  min/mile
Comments:

Lined up about 8 rows deep to hopefully avoid the weaving at the start. It is funny that there are so many inexperienced racers here that line up way too far in the front and start off way too fast. The old poker saying goes if you're sitting at the table and you can't spot the sucker...you're it...LOL. I did have to force my way through 2 women pretty rudely, but this race truely is like an OWS race at the start. Expect contact.

So I settled into a 7ish minute pace just to see what it felt like. Since getting sick a few weeks ago, my training has been a bit down and my fitness did seem to be on a slight decline...but I had to go for it anyway. Somewhere between mile 2 and 3, I knew a sub 7 pace wasn't happening as I slowly slipped to around 7:05.

So I quickly recalibrated, and just wanted to make sure I was going to go under an hour (7:23 pace). It was really windy (high wind warnings all weekend) but since it was a point to point race, the wind was actually a little at our backs. I felt a lot more comfortable around 7:25-7:30, and sort of cruised there for a few miles. Mentally though it was tough because I was starting to get passed on a regular basis.

I got out of the viaduct and then the 3 rollers were up next. Those hills just sucked the life out of me...more mentally than physically. I lost my will to really suffer, and the last 3 miles felt more like a really hard tempo run rather than a race.

As I approached the Stadium, I knew I had a sub 1 hour finish in the bag, so I somewhat cruised it in. I still picked up the pace, but I could have really opened it up (read...I had too much energy left) if I wanted to. I was planning to at least PR by a few seconds, but I miscalculated the distance to the finish and came up 8 seconds short...but like I said...I wasn't really trying that hard either...it was sort of an "oh well" moment.

Found out that Andrew and Burt got huge PRs and the course record was also broken...so it was a fast day.


What would you do differently?:

Not get sick. I don't know...maybe I overtrained a bit too in January. Weight was "okay", but could have been better. Push harder and HTFU. All in all...I had to gut myself inside out to run sub 1 hour last year. If I can run a similar time while having a sub par performance this year...I guess that's a good thing so I'll take it in stride. This was not an A race for me, so "it is what it is".
Post race
Warm down:

Cold pizza tasted like cardboard with cheese on it.




Last updated: 2013-01-24 12:00 AM
Running
00:59:40 | 08.15 miles | 07m 19s  min/mile
Age Group: 44/1037
Overall: 311/18202
Performance: Below average
6:58/173, 7:02/184, 7:16/185, 7:27/184, 7:19/186, 7:39/184, 7:29/183, 7:31/187, 0:55/191
Course: Aloha Tower to Aloha Stadium
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 2
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3

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2013-02-19 2:48 PM

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Subject: Great Aloha Run
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